In the latest edition of Outdoor life they compare the four popular muzzleloading bullets. They compared Barnes, T/C shockwave, Hornady SST, & Powerbelt hollow point bullets. They used two & three Triple seven pellets for each bullet test. The powerbelt with three pellets completly disentigrated. With two it lost almost 2/3rds of its original weight.
I use triple seven loose powder & powerbelt 245 aero tip bullets. Is triple seven pushing these bullets to fast to handle it? Do I need to step up in bullet weight, maybe 348 grain?

Guys on other forums have done extensive studies with powerbelts, analyzing performance on both game and test media. The conclusion seems to be that if you're going to use Powerbelts you should use something around 70 grains of loose T7 for good bullet performance, and nothing over 80 grains. If your shots are generally less than 125 yards that's all the powder you need anyway.

I used to shoot 100 grains of powder and a 295 gr hollow point and kept them all in a 6" circle but they weren't grouping the way I wanted them so I went down to a 90 grain charge and judge for yourself.
First 3 shoots this year at the range.
Shoot at 75 yards a few weeks ago.
Went down to 90 grains and you can see that those 3 shots are real close. The second pic shows what I was getting with 100 grains and then after I cut it down to 90 the group got a lot tighter at 50 yards. Hope the info helps.

I have a first year CVA Accura that loves 295 Powerbelt Aero Tips, that wasn't always the case. When I first got the gun I started out w/ 100gr of T7 loose. No group whatsoever. I did the same thing as you and went down to 70 gr of loose trip 7. Now I have a very accurate ML that has harvested a few deer over the past 2 seasons. I have not had any problem w/ bullet performance on game. Big thump, heck of a wound channel, and a good sized drain hole. I shoot mine open sights, so a 75 yd shot is top end of my range.

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If you are gonna use sabots, the Barnes is your best bet at any range or velocity. It's solid coper design makes for a controlled expansion projectile that will hold together no matter what on game animals.

I use the 295 hollow pnt Powerbelts and 100gr of 777, figuring at short range the Aero tip means little to nothing (simply my opinion). My experience with these bullets is that they very well may not make full penetration on any good sized deer, but do open up very well and do a GREAT deal of internal destruction. The lack of leakage on both sides has not been an issue with the deer traveling very short distances after having their lungs pulverized. I am not bothered at all by jacketed bullets that drop 10-40% of their weight in an animal. In my experience additional shrapnel is a good thing . The same as the 50 yr old concept of the fine Nosler Partition round for centerfire.

What I said, if you'd care to look again, was that they shared the concept of not retaining 100% weight. Both, instead, open quickly and perhaps add additional "pieces" during penetration.. But thanks anyway for your opinion

The Partition is made to stay together under anything but the highest impact velocities, the power-belt just comes apart no matter what.

Reference the rear section of a NP, I agree. When it comes to the front half it is very common for the bullet to shed a good bit of weight. I have used them in several chamberings and on many animals. I guess we'll simply have to agree to disagree here....

I'm not here to rock any ones boat but I would like to make a comment on powerbelts. As you can see from my reply above that I get great accuracy. Took me awhile to achieve that by trial and error but for me 90 grains works great with the 295 gr aerotip. Last year I put 2 deer in the freezer along with a boar that hit the scale at 267#'s. The deer were no elk or moose in size but they were adult does. All were shot under 50 yards and all were double lung pass thru's. Great blood trail left on all 3 critters. I can only say they workk for me and my ACCURA loves the combo. I would not hesitate to hunt elk, bear or moose with my set up. Put the bullet where it counts and then put the critter in the freezer.

Well I have been hunting with Powerbelts since they came out. At 75 yards my CVA just makes a bigger hole each time. I have complained about poor penetration for several years now and decided to try something else.

I decided to try Hornady SST ML bullets this year. They shot ok but nothing like the Powerbelts. So I decided to switch back. My buddy still shoots the Hornady bullets and hammered a 190# 8 pt this morning. Hitting it in the chest and it came out at his last rib. He ran 40 yards and bled like a stuck hog. he is happy with the performance and accuracy of the Hornadys.

I may have been happy if they were not so hard to load and shot a little better in my gun.
I have shot some fairly big deer and had complete pass thrus with Powerbelts but also have had some small deer with no pass thru.

Powerbelt worked again today for me. 295gr with 100gr 777 dropped a nice Tn buck in his tracks. Shot was 50 yds and to the base of the neck. Again (as with my last three) no exit. The buck was chasing a doe, stopped when I grunted and dropped where he stood. So, all four were nice sized deer, this one at least 200 lbs (est) live weight, the other two 8 pnts, at least 180 (est) live weight and the doe was 148, dressed weight. Two were DIT and the other two ran no more than 45 yds, dropping in sight. I am still likin' those powerbelts!!

Powerbelt worked again today for me. 295gr with 100gr 777 dropped a nice Tn buck in his tracks. Shot was 50 yds and to the base of the neck. Again (as with my last three) no exit. The buck was chasing a doe, stopped when I grunted and dropped where he stood. So, all four were nice sized deer, this one at least 200 lbs (est) live weight, the other two 8 pnts, at least 180 (est) live weight and the doe was 148, dressed weight. Two were DIT and the other two ran no more than 45 yds, dropping in sight. I am still likin' those powerbelts!!

congrats, those are some pretty good size deer for TN. most the deer we see at our east TN. place are really small.

Thanks, The big doe and one of the 180+ pound bucks actually came from Kentucky, just a mile or so across the border. We are lucky to have some property there to hunt that's surrounded by 500+ acres of soybeans and corn. The deer are all good sized there. That doe drew more attention at the butcher shop than any buck I've brought in LOL. They were just amazed at the body size.

The deer that live close to the Ky. line are sometimes big. I'm originally from Ky. and grw up really close to the Ky./Tn. line. The deer that some of the guys on the Tn. side killed were sometimes heavy with good racks. Because of that a lot of Tn. boys would get as close to Ky. as they could get. Ky. has a lot of B&C bucks. Tn. getting better, but I don't know if it will ever be as good as Ky.

The deer that live close to the Ky. line are sometimes big. I'm originally from Ky. and grw up really close to the Ky./Tn. line. The deer that some of the guys on the Tn. side killed were sometimes heavy with good racks. Because of that a lot of Tn. boys would get as close to Ky. as they could get. Ky. has a lot of B&C bucks. Tn. getting better, but I don't know if it will ever be as good as Ky.

Kentucky has probably had the most overall impressive herd improvement of any whitetail state the last 5 yrs or so. There are, indeed, a lot of large deer roaming parts of Kentucky and as I mentioned, I feel very lucky to have a quality place there to hunt. The license is not overly expensive as out of state either. I pay about $65. more than it costs me to hunt bow, M/L, and gun in Tennessee.

The biggest difference, however, is the number of deer allowed. In my area of Tn. we are allowed 3 deer per day for the entire season (limit is three bucks total) which runs from late September (archery) to early January. That includes a rifle season which is about 5 weeks long plus two M/L seasons that total about three weeks more. Kentucky has a two week/three weekend gun season and an early M/L season that's only two days, along with a late one which is a week. Kentucky allows one buck and one doe, plus additional doe tags at additional cost. Once you buy your license(s) in Tn., additional deer cost no more.

It does seem odd to drive to Kentucky for a hunt (15 mins for me) and have to remember the huge difference in the bag limit there. My Kentucky area is actually a shorter drive than my two main Tennessee places.